It’s lilac time. My favourite time of year aroma-wise. I usually spend as much time as I can outdoors enjoying the lilacs, but this year’s high- hazard smoky air put a crimp on that. Unbeknownst to many city residents, the lilac is Williams Lake’s official flower, adopted by a city council some years ago. Subsequent councils haven’t bothered with it.
Pioneer wives brought the lilac to the Cariboo during the gold rush, and the plants proved to be as durable as the settlers. I rant every May, hoping current leaders will recognize the lilac’s historic value and re-official them.
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It’s really heartening in these days of doom and discord to see acts of kindness. I was at the hospital recently for an x-ray. It took almost as long to walk down the hospital hallway as it did to have the procedure, but that isn’t the story. Because it was over sooner than expected, I sat outside waiting for my ride. The ground around the benches was littered with cigarette butts in spite of No Smoking signs.
A man came out of the hospital and over to where I was sitting, looked around, said he was going to have a smoke “but not here,” and walked away.
Then an older man came along and sat beside the No Smoking sign. Man #1 returned and stopped again. He looked at man #2, who was puffing on a cigarette, and said, “I’m going to do something about this,” and he walked over to him. I thought he was going to chide the man for smoking in a prohibited place. Instead, he offered him a cigarette. The recipient was surprised and absolutely delighted. He’d been smoking a discarded butt.
No matter what anyone thinks about smoking, that little episode brightened my day.
monica.lamb-yorski@wltribune.com
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